Stocks were indicated to open higher by 1% after a spokesperson from China’s Ministry of Commerce said that it is willing to resolve the trade war with a calm attitude. Despite the volatility and selling pressure last week, the bull market is well over 10 years old and the Dow Jones industrials, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all still have double-digit percentage gains so far in 2019. Investors ought to be considering how to position their portfolios and assets for late 2019 and as 2020 approaches.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week to find new ideas for traders and long-term investors alike. Some of the daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy, while others cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

We have provided these calls in a quick-hit summary for easy reading, and additional comments and trading data have been added on some of the calls. The consensus analyst price targets and other valuation metrics are from the Refinitiv (Thomson Reuters) sell-side research service.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Thursday, August 29, 2019.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) was reiterated as Neutral at JPMorgan, but the firm did raise its target price to $198 from $191 in the call. The shares closed up 0.5% at $207.52 ahead of the call, in a 52-week trading range of $166.30 to $211.90 and with a consensus target price of $213.21.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James. The shares closed up 1.4% at $26.85 on Wednesday and were indicated up 1% at $27.13 on Thursday. They have a 52-week trading range of $22.66 to $31.37, and the consensus target price was $33.24.

Box Inc. (NYSE: BOX) closed up 1.1% at $13.83 on Wednesday ahead of earnings, but the shares were down 9.6% at $12.50 on Thursday’s post-earnings reaction. Raymond James maintained it as Outperform but cut the target price to $18 from $21. First Analysis downgraded the stock to Neutral from Outperform and cut its target price to $14 from $22.

Cadence Bancorp (NASDAQ: CADE) was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James.

Casey’s General Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: CASY) was downgraded to Underperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets. Its shares had closed up 1% at $170.56 on Wednesday, and it had a consensus target price of $157.70.

Chico’s FAS Inc. (NYSE: CHS) was maintained as Market Perform and the target price was cut to $3 from $4 at Telsey Advisory Group. The stock closed up 21% at $3.05 on Wednesday after earnings, in part based on stronger sales at its Soma brand.

Douglas Dynamics Inc. (NYSE: PLOW) was named as the Bull of the Day at Zacks, which said that snowplows in the summer might be the play of the season. The stock most recently closed at $41.22 a share, with a consensus price target of $48.33.

Dova Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: DOVA) was started with an Outperform rating and assigned a $30 target price (versus a $15.16 prior close, after a 5.2% gain) at Oppenheimer.

Louisiana-Pacific Corp. (NYSE: LPX) was named as the Zacks Bear of the Day stock. The firm said that we are a long way from the Trump trade that made stocks like this run. The stock closed most recently at $23.05 a share, with a consensus price target of $29.50.

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: MKTX) was started with a Hold rating at Argus.